Career change is not only possible, it’s positive; that was the message three inspiring women gave to the audience at this morning’s Women’s Agenda breakfast in Sydney.
The breakfast was held to interrogate the idea of changing the course of your career – whether that means changing companies, changing roles or changing industries altogether.
Career change is something so many of us contemplate, but can still be daunting to put into practice. A recent study by job finding website SEEK found that 68% of Australians are unsatisfied with their current career position but only 23% of those people are likely to actually make a change.
We decided to gather three women who have not only experienced career change, but who have come out the other side in a better, more positive and more inspiring place than the one they started from. We decided to bring these women together to share their stories and send the message that career change really isn’t as scary as it seems.
Enter businesswoman, influencer, entrepreneur, TV star and author Naomi Simson; journalist, lawyer and medical student Lisa Pryor and Telstra’s regional general manager and ex-policewoman Angela Lovegrove. These three women have each reinvented their careers and shared their unique stories at this morning’s breakfast.
Lisa Pryor described finishing high school with good marks and doing what most students in that position do if given the opportunity: study law. She described entering the world of Sydney Law School and seeing all around her other women who wanted to change the world but ended up working in commercial law firms that they could not identify with. Pryor even wrote a book about this, called The Pinstriped Prison.
After finishing studying law Pryor decide to change course and became a journalist. After seven years working for Fairfax media as a reporter, an investigative reporter and an opinion editor, Pryor found herself looking for something new.
“I knew it was time for the next challenge,” she said.
“I still remember the day I made the decision to move away from journalism and study medicine. It was New Year’s Eve and my three month old baby was at home with my husband, and I decided to spend the night at St Vincent’s hospital’s emergency department.”
“Emergency departments are always exciting places to be, but especially on New Year’s Eve. That night I decided I wanted to be a doctor.”
The fact you could be caring and smart in this profession piqued her interest and Pryor began studying for the GAMSAT exam immediately. She is now just a few months away from finishing her medical degree and fulfilling the dream she discovered that night.
Growing up, Angela Lovegrove dreamed of becoming a policewoman. Coming from a working class family, she left school at 16 to work and found a job working in IT. Determined to pursue a career in the police force, she left a few years later.
“I was so determined to be a policewoman and I pursued it ferociously. But when I got there, I realised I hated it,” she said.
Lovegrove returned to the world of IT and enjoyed fast success. Then, she had another realisation.
“I needed a new challenge,” she said.
“I realised that I wanted to make a living by sitting on corporate boards, so I knew I had to get into the corporate world, which is what led me to Telstra,” she said.
Naomi Simson’s career journey went in the opposite direction; she began her career in the corporate world but then decided to break out and become an entrepreneur.
“When I became a mum I realised the corporate world just wouldn’t give me the flexibility I needed,” she said.
“I wanted to enjoy being a mother and enjoy my children and I couldn’t do that working in corporates, so I decided to start my own business instead.”
Simson founded digital experience gift retailer RedBalloon, and has since won numerous awards and accolades for her achievements.
So what are the key pieces of advice on career change from the women who’ve made the leap?
1. Life is a journey. Enjoy it. “The one piece of advice I would leave you with is to enjoy the ride and don’t always focus just on the end goal,” Simson said.
2. Nothing is perfect. “Life would be so boring if it was perfect,” Simson said. “My life is chaotic, just like yours. It will never be perfect. We are all just muddling through it.” To prove it, Simson told the audience that she has accidentally dropped her son off at school on a pupil-free day. Three times.
3. Be brave. “Don’t be afraid. Go out there and approach the people that can help you in your career and just be brave about pursuing what you want,” Lovegrove said. Her tip? Find the people who are doing what you want to do via LinkedIn. See if you have a shared connection that you can hassle for an introduction. If you don’t, just cold call them directly and ask for a chat.
4. Give yourself permission to do what you really want. “It’s okay to burn bridges that you don’t want to cross back over. It just forces you to move forward,” Pryor said. “What I tell myself every day is that there is absolutely no harm in trying new things. There is no detriment that can come from new experiences,” she continued. “You need to find the clarity to do what you actually want and not what people expect of you,” Lovegrove added.
5. Be positive about career change. “I think of my different moves not as ‘career changes’ but as the next building block of my broader career story. When you look at the whole story, it makes sense. It’s not as crazy as it sounds,” Pryor said. “You have a choice every single day about whether or not you will be positive. There is always an upside if youchoose to look at it,” Simson said.
6. It’s going to be okay: “Once you find your true sense of purpose, you’ll never work another day in your life. I haven’t ‘worked’ for years,” Simson said.